Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have been contacted by a number of public servants over their concerns about the retirement age. They are in good health and are enjoying their job and would love to continue in their job after they reach 65. At the moment, the Department is looking at legislation and reviewing the situation but if these people were to go back into employment in the public service they would have to start on point 1 of the scale again, as if they were new employees. The experience they have built up over the years has to be taken into account and I am concerned that we are losing people with experience from some organisations. When people want to stay on, everything should be done to encourage them and to allow them to stay in employment for a few more years to give something back to the organisations for which they worked.